Matt Chapman hit an inside-the-park home run, and Casey Schmitt and Michael Conforto both contributed solo home runs as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3 on Monday night.
The Diamondbacks (87-70) lost more ground in the National League playoff race while trying to secure one of three wild card spots. They currently hold the final wild card position, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves (85-71). The San Diego Padres (90-66) and New York Mets (87-69) occupy the first two wild card spots.
The Mets and Braves will face off in an important three-game series starting on Tuesday in Atlanta.
“I don’t think there’s any pressing,” D-backs center fielder Jake McCarthy said. “We’ve had our foot pedal on the gas pedal the whole season, so just chalk it up to baseball. We’re going to bounce back tomorrow.”
Although San Francisco is out of the playoff race, they have been performing very well recently against teams that are still in contention. The Giants have a 6-1 record over the past week against the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, and Diamondbacks.
It was another tough loss for Arizona, which lost a game after leading 8-0 on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, finishing at 10-9.
“Today, we got beat,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “Their pitcher was making quality pitches, we weren’t able to generate the offense we normally have and we got beat.”
Chapman’s inside-the-park home run came in the third inning, putting the Giants ahead 3-1. He hit a line drive to one of the deepest areas in left center field, and a jumping McCarthy could not quite catch it at the wall. Left fielder Pavin Smith had to go retrieve the ball in center field.
Chapman sprinted the whole way and easily scored before the relay throw from Geraldo Perdomo reached home. Denard Span was the last San Francisco player to hit an inside-the-park home run, which he did in 2017.
